BionX was a Canadian maker of

electric motor An electric motor is an Electric machine, electrical machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a Electromagneti ...

s for

bicycle A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike or cycle, is a human-powered or motor-powered assisted, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A is called a cyclist, or bicyclist. Bic ...

s as well as bicycle retrofit kits, operating from 1998-2018, originally named EPS (Electric Propulsion Systems

BionX was headquartered in Aurora, Ontario, Aurora,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

where motors were produced and assemble

before being marketed in over 15 countries. Research and development was based in

Sherbrooke Sherbrooke ( ; ) is a city in southern Quebec, Canada. It is at the confluence of the Saint-François and Magog rivers in the heart of the Estrie administrative region. Sherbrooke is also the name of a territory equivalent to a regional count ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. The European sales and service center was located near

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

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History

In 1998, entrepreneur Jean-Yves Dubé formed Energy and Propulsion Systems (EPS), a company in Quebec, Canada. In 2000, the name was changed to "BionX". In 2008, the company was acquired by Magna and by then its motors had become standard in many ebikes in Europe and North America, including bikes by Trek and

Matra Matra (an acronym for Mécanique Aviation Traction) was a French industrial conglomerate. During its years of operation, it was engaged in a wide range of business activities, primarily focused around automobiles, bicycles, aeronautics and w ...

Kalkhoff Kalkhoff is a German bicycle manufacturer based in Cloppenburg; it was founded in 1919 by Heinrich Kalkhoff (* 30. November 1903; † 25. September 1972) as a family business. Founded as a first small workshop in Kalkhoff's parents' house, the c ...

. In 2011, Bionix introduced

SeaScape A seascape is a photograph, painting, or other work of art which depicts the sea, in other words an example of marine art. The word originated as a formation from landscape, which was first used of images of land in art. By a similar devel ...

, an electrically-assisted paddle-boat product line. On February 27, 2018 BionX Canada went into receivership, its 80 employees were dismissed, and the company was shut down temporarily to find a buyer. Grant Thornton Limited was appointed as Receiver. In June 2018, parts of the business were sold off to three other businesses, and the rest of the company assets were liquidated via online auction that ended August 15, 2018. By October 2018, BionX's receiver sold the company’s intellectual property, patents, trademarks, software web domains as well as remaining inventory with court approval t
Amego Electric Vehicles
and its nomine
Leisger Cycle Inc.

Motors

BionX motors were typically mounted into an oversized rear wheel hub and were noted for their low noise;

regenerative braking Regenerative braking is an energy recovery mechanism that slows down a moving vehicle or object by converting its kinetic energy into a form that can be either used immediately or stored until needed. In this mechanism, the electric traction mo ...

capability and hub-embedded motor controller. The D series of motors was the most recent and strongest BionX technology with a

torque In physics and mechanics, torque is the rotational equivalent of linear force. It is also referred to as the moment of force (also abbreviated to moment). It represents the capability of a force to produce change in the rotational motion of th ...

of 25/50 Nm. The motor cylinder was larger but thinner than previous versions and weighed 4.0 kg (8.8 lb). Before that was the S series which with 3.5 kg (7.7 lb) was lighter than the P series at the same strength. The P series motors were the first produced by Bionx. They had a torque of 9/40 Nm at a weight of 4.7 kg (10.4 lb). *Since the maximum legal power specifications in Watts are different for the same motor in North America and Europe, the name varies. For example, the P-350 is usually sold as the P-250 in Europe. While Bionx had competition from several wheel hub-based motor companies, including

Panasonic formerly between 1935 and 2008 and the first incarnation of between 2008 and 2022, is a major Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka, Kadoma, Osaka P ...

(e.g. KTM's eRace), Alber's Xion (lately in Kalkhoff bikes), Heinzmann, and GoSwiss, their primary competitor was the Bosch eBike.

References

External links

{{Commons category
ridebionx.com
– BionX company homepage Companies based in Ontario Electric bicycles Electric motors

History

Motors

See also

References

External links